ladymorella

Excellent. Thank you upirygirl.

Wait is this it? If so it's open til nov 30th. I rather make sure it's the right thing before I send off money. https://www.facebook.com/groups/362677597172367/

The facebook links don't work. Is this an annual thing or one time thing?

Oh, TexasToast why? :-( Update: I'm down 2.5lbs and have been sleeping pretty good. Hopefully I don't throw that off too much with Dr. Who tonight that starts past my bedtime. You have to make sacrifices sometimes. I have been doing well on the processed food front as well. I have been bringing my lunch to work and it is working out pretty good. Only problem is my gastritis is flaring up and I only want about two meals a day for the past three days. Not good. Traditionally I gain weight during this phase. Hoping to maintain and get the flareup under control.

Dang it! I am not registered. I am going to have to chew out my whovian friend for either A) not telling me about this or B.) not knowing about this. :-P

Is this still going on? If so what is the link? I am doing a 5k on Thursday.

CryptArchy there are a ton of hiking spots around Tucson, especially this time of year when the desert hiking is tolerable for all hours of the day. Saguaro east is a great starter area as most of the trails have no elevation gain and you can easily build a loop of the distance you desire. If anyone wants to set something up I might be interested depending on availability. I haven't done much desert hiking so it's kind of my goal to try out a bunch of them this fall/winter.

Nice goals. Good Luck on your quest. I have been super interested in longer ranged hikes as of late. I am trying to work with a friend to plan my first backpacking trip. Sounds like you've hit some bumps with the insomnia sorry to hear that. It sucks I have been struggling with it a bit lately too. Sometimes natural things seem to help other times nothing helps. Looks like you are making progress overall in your goals though, very good. Keep up the fight.

Update: Diet is getting better and weight has been consistent. Which for now is a good thing.

As far as a set diet mostly I am reducing processed food. My intake has increased recently due to being busy at work. I will focus on getting good protein and making sure I get the veggies and fruits in. The rest will work itself out. I have issues planning meals out too far in advance since I have digestive issues and don't always know what I can eat in even 4 hours much less several days from now. I need to make room in my freezer for meals I can make in advance. I do weigh myself frequently, but don't take any notice of the number for any particular day unless it is more than 4 lbs and/or stays higher or lower for about a week. Even it if is higher than 4lbs I don't freak out, I just look at what has changed recently and see if there is something I need to look at. Having an idea of when it creeped up helps me relate the weight to things that may have changed recently. I don't pin my emotions on the numbers on the scale, it's just useful info for me. Idk I work with computers I am use to having logs to work with ;-) I treat it similarly a spike or drop in a log isn't concerning until it keeps happening. Then I have to look at what might have changed. ;-) I do crossFit and got off track for a little while, so my goal is to get that consistent. Then the weather now is great for outdoor things so I am scheduling some hikes and my dog would like some extra walks or runs I am sure.

Thanks for the tips. Took a while, but things are finally looking up. Still not sleeping super well, but definitely better. I think I need a new pillow or something cause my neck has been hurting for a while. Still not attending crossfit 3x a week like I have been for a year and a half, but I have it up to 2x a week now.

Starting a tad late formally, but have a small start on my goals. My goal is to lose about 8 lbs in this challenge. I intend on doing this through cutting down on processed types of carbs. I also I want to get my sleep schedule back on track and getting 8hr a night on average. I have already lost about a 1.5 lb mostly due to the fact that I was at my highest weight at the start of the challenge. I do not expect the rest to go that quickly. This is the beginning of my quest to lose about 35lbs and then see if anything more is needed after that. Not sure how much muscle I have gained since gaining the weight.

Yeah, I know. I just get into difficult phases. Which I am in now. I can't seem to ever get enough sleep. My sleep cycle is all off so I am awake when I should be getting ready for bed and drag all the rest of the day. This is an improvement from a couple weeks ago when I was dragging all the time for over two months. No amounts of modifications seems to affect it. It's just super frustrating cause this is the longest I have ever been in such a phase, coming to almost 4 months now. I've missed my crossfit class for almost two weeks now which hasn't seemed to help either way. Either in giving much needed rest by not attending nor helping in weight loss by attending. I have a doctor's appointment coming up, maybe that will turn up something, but still it's over two weeks away. I'm just really frustrated and at this point am just trying hard to at least not gain weight.

My challenge is not going well. :-( I can't sleep, my eating is sporadic.

I know you already have quite a few recommendations, but I love tea so much I wanted to add a couple things I didn't see mentioned. Which tea is good for someone starting off drinking tea depends on the person. I have seen some start off loving white or green tea, some earl grey, and others herbal tea. I'm not a coffee drinker so I'm not sure what a good "gateway" tea is good for you. Chai might be worth a try, you can add only a little milk if it's too strong. I personally have really been enjoying Sweet and Spicy made by Good Earth lately. I find it satisfies my craving for soda when I drink it iced. No other tea that I have had does that for me. So I keep it around when I want soda. There are two versions of the tea a black tea version and a red tea (caffeine free) version. You mentioned not being able to handle soda lately. It might be worth a try. Tazo and Celestial Seasonings are both pretty popular teas, but they are a little different than others. I find they both seem to have their own unique blends of even popular flavors. So if you like them great, if you don't like them, maybe you just don't like that brand. Not as big of a deal with Celestial Seasonings since they don't have too many common flavors, but you might try a different brand of the same flavor. Not all teas are suppose to be made with boiling water. Green and White tea change flavor some in boiling water sometimes the change is pretty subtle other times it's pretty noticeable. If you want more help on teas you may post what teas you like and which you don't and what you did and didn't like about them. We can help point you to a flavor you'll be more inclined to like.

1. Got 7 1/2 hr sleep. Woke up naturally 2. Ate out for Breakfast. 3. . Lunch was super late. Need to correct.

So I'm not sure I fully understand this challenge yet, but look like I just post my goal and keep updates? My goal is to lose 10lbs. I recently gained 15lbs and now working out is so much harder as I was already overweight. Three ways to achieve that goal: 1. Get enough sleep at leasts 7 1/2 hrs, but preferrably 8. (sleep has been horrible lately) 2. Stop eatting out so often. Goal to get down to twice a week? 3. Consistantly eat. My eating has been very inconsistent. It has been varing from too little to too much. This is usually the best recipe for me to gain weight.